School Board officials from across Florida meet to discuss ballot issues

Officials from school boards representing almost half of Florida's kindergarten through 12th-grade students met here Friday to discuss Nov. 4 ballot issues that many said would take billions of dollars from classrooms already hurt by funding cuts in a faltering economy.

The trio of constitutional amendments that concern school spending must survive court challenges before voters can pass or reject them.

But members of the Greater Florida Consortium of School Boards particularly were fearful of Amendment 5, which would eliminate property taxes that Tallahassee requires school districts to pass in order to qualify for state education funds. Property taxes would be replaced by a 1 cent sales tax increase, plus unspecified changes to tax exemptions and spending shifts.

"Our concern is, even if it's defeated by the (state) Supreme Court, it may show up later in the Legislature as a bill," said Karen Disney-Brombach, consortium president and chairwoman of the Indian River County School Board.

State Sen. Mike Haridopolos, chair of the Finance and Tax Committee, told Friday's meeting the state would have to find $11 billion if property taxes were eliminated as the foundation of public school money. Adding a 1 cent sales tax would generate $4 billion.

"This is a tremendous gap &#151; $7 billion dollars &#151; not to help school funding, but to just hold it harmless," he said. "The numbers don't add up. Even if you eliminate every single sales tax exemption, you'd only have another $4 billion. We'd still be $3 billion short."

Haridopolos, R-Indialantic, clearly had the hearts of the crowd when he assailed Amendment 5. But members of the consortium questioned his support of Amendments 7 and 9. The first would eliminate the Florida Constitution's ban on using tax dollars to fund religious institutions; the second would override court rulings that forbid spending state money for private schools.

Consortium Executive Director Tom Cerra said the consortium doesn't have a stated position on any amendment because school boards from its 11 member counties vote their own policies.

Nevertheless, literature and talk when the two-day meeting opened Friday morning was clearly hostile to the amendments.

"There certainly was consensus in the room about all three," Cerra said.

Amendment 5: Would amend Florida's Constitution to eliminate property taxes that the state currently requires school districts to levy in order to qualify for state aid. It would force the Legislature to make up for lost revenue to schools with a 1 percent increase in the current 6 percent statewide sales tax, among other options

Amendment 7: If at least 60 percent of Florida voters agree with it, it will eliminate the constitutional ban in Florida against sending state money to religious institutions.

Amendment 9: If at least 60 percent of Florida voters agree with it, it will require that at least 65 percent of school funding to be used for classroom instruction. It would reverse the legal precedent prohibiting public funding of private alternatives to public school programs (usually referred to as school vouchers).